Kerala's COVID-19 management saved a large number of lives: KK Shailaja

Kerala's COVID-19 management strategy saved a large number of lives as it delayed the peak of the epidemic and gave time to improve the health care system of the state, said Health Minister KK Shailaja on Saturday.

The minister launched the Health Department's 'Back to Basics' campaign on Saturday here, a year after the first COVID case was reported in Kerala on January 30, 2020.

Talking about the campaign she said the aim of Back to Basics is to educate the public about the importance of following COVID-19 related protocols and reducing disease transmission.

"It's been a year since we have been struggling with COVID-19. But we can say we're in a safe position. There's a bit of increase in cases in Kerala but the mortality rate is 0.4 per cent. We're still following the strict 'trace, isolate and treat' strategy," she said.

Shailaja said Kerala can say it saved more lives at a lesser cost, by following a 'very good' strategy from the starting stage itself.

"We can say we saved more lives at a lesser cost. When the COVID-19 patients came from other hot spots during the lifting of the lockdown, it was very different to trace the patients, but we continued doing that. I think we have succeeded in limiting the spread of the virus. The peak occurred in Kerala later even though the pandemic occurred in Kerala first. We tried to delay the peak by applying the 'trace, isolate and treat strategy and also break the chain," she added.

The Health Minister said that the delayed peak of pandemic gave time to the state to improve the health care system.

"During that period we were able to strengthen our health care system, and because of that we never saw the full occupancy of our ventilators. Our ICUs were also occupied below 50 per cent during this time. Our hospitals were never flooded with patients because of our planning. We mobilised more human resources to fight against the pandemic," she stated.

( With inputs from ANI )